Michael's Dispatches

The senior sergeant at the Army’s Warrior Adventure Quest (WAQ) at Fort Hood has been fired after allegedly endangering the lives of Boy Scouts.

The accusation comes from a staff member at WAQ who claims that the Army Master Sergeant abused his position while using Army kayaks, without lights or permission, on a lake with Boy Scouts on the night of 13 August.

Lights are important safety measures to prevent collisions with speedboats.

According to Texas law, “All vessels including motorboats, sailboats, canoes, kayaks, punts, rowboats, rubber rafts, or other vessels when not at dock must have and exhibit at least one bright light, lantern or flashlight visible all around the horizon from sunset to sunrise in all weather and during restricted visibility.” http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/boat/safety/vessel_requirements/

Fatalities involving unlighted boats are common. At another Texas lake in 2011, a boat crashed into three unlighted kayaks killing a man. Unlighted boating accidents are so frequent that some attorneys specialize in those and related cases.

Today I received a phone call from ### ###, stating that last night around 2030 MSG Grisham, the WAQ NCOIC [Non-commissioned Officer in Charge], was on the lake in the dark with a group of boy scouts in the kayaks. When ### approached him about this he explained that this was dangerous because the kayaks have no lights on them and they cannot be seen by boats, MSG Grisham said that I gave him permission to be on the lake in the kayaks. I was not even aware of this and he stated last week that he would be on leave this week and out of town. I am afraid that someone is going to get hurt and then the WAQ is going to suffer because of this. I will be getting the set of keys back from him and changing out the locks. I have my set of keys and he, being the NCOIC, has a set for WAQ purposes only, not for personal use. The other kayak cage key is locked up in a lock box and signed out to the team leader when we have a kayak group. We have had issues in the past with him that have been addressed. He is currently bringing attention to himself with his gun control case and the YouTube video that is currently being streamed. As for being a leader here, he is never around to assist. SFC Hall has been our acting NCOIC because we cannot depend on him to be here to help with facilitating activities.

Unauthorized use of government property is illegal. If the allegations are accurate, and someone had been killed, liability could have fallen to the Army, to Grisham’s chain of command, and to the Boy Scouts if the event was sanctioned.

Earlier in 2013, in Temple, Texas, the same Master Sergeant was engaged in an alleged Boy Scout activity with his son when he was arrested on a weapons-related charge. Grisham made his 15 year-old son videotape his arrest. His son began crying while taping. Trial is pending.

During his arrest, Grisham bragged about being an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.

In fact, he was unable to complete an Afghanistan tour in 2011. He was sent home early after publicly complaining on his blog about mental health issues and fear of enemy attacks. He never left the sprawling base of Kandahar Airfield, and saw no combat.

At the same time, just nearby, the unit I was covering was taking many wounded and killed. Grisham was in his safe, air-conditioned office, with his intelligence unit, blogging.

It would have been healthier for the Soldiers I was covering if Grisham’s commander had stuffed the monkey business and made his staff labor on figuring out who was blowing us up and shooting and killing US troops just nearby. Some of our dead and crippled Soldiers might be healthy today if 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade (BfSB) was more focused on its mission.

The chain of command of Grisham’s outfit, the 504th BfSB, was too weak and broken to discipline their outfit. While Grisham was busy playing up war theatrics on his blog, we were in firefights. The closest Grisham came to Taliban is on the History Channel.

Ever vigilant: Master Sergeant Grisham of 504th BfSB found no zombies in this Texas Starbucks.

At one point, Grisham published a strange photo of himself with a pistol attached with a bayonet, saying he was preparing for the zombie apocalypse. He published another image buying anti-zombie ammunition.

While facing fresh allegations of misuse of government property, Grisham is today parading around Texas with a rifle over his back, which is legal in Texas, but when considered in light of his other behaviors, even the staunchest gun advocates increasingly find his conduct objectionable.

Grisham is not a Second Amendment icon, despite his efforts. He is setting us back.

Master Sergeant CJ Grisham of the US Army 504th BfSB found no zombies in this Texas department store.

After the alleged dangerous kayaking and misuse of government property, Grisham has been fired as NCOIC of WAQ, and returned to his unit, the 504th BfSB.

Bradley Manning severely damaged US national security.

Remember Bradley Manning? Manning radiated signs of instability that many people pointed out in advance. He struck a female officer and personally warned people about his mental health.

That we put a mentally unstable soldier into a position to harm us is our fault.

After Manning severely harmed the United States, we tantamount tortured him with prolonged solitary confinement and a long delayed trial. The kid is not all there. That we put him into a position where failure should have been expected, then he failed, and we locked him into a veritable hole, is a disgrace. Manning’s chain of command should be on trial with him.

The Manning debacle is like recruiting a monkey as a helicopter pilot, then punishing the monkey for stealing and crashing the helicopter. Who put a monkey into the cockpit? Only a Monkey Commander would do that. Who put the Monkey Commander there? It had to be yet another Monkey Commander.

Manning is hardly to blame. He is mentally astray and weaker than noodles. These issues were not discovered post facto. They were known before the crime. We hired a weakling, he was bullied, and he got his revenge in a massive way, and so we beat him, all while suffering national-level damage.

Today, many people see Manning as a hero.

Manning's mental infirmities were no secret.

Before Manning’s crime, the Army removed the bolt from his weapon. This is a common practice in a war zone with soldiers who are deemed homicidal or suicidal. On some bases troops are never allowed to be without a weapon. The commander removes the bolt so that potential enemies do not see the troop is unarmed, yet this disables the weapon.

An odd similarity with Manning and Grisham is their fixation on homosexuality.

As for Grisham, his homophobia is severe to the point of being spooky. His blog "followers" can be similar in their spontaneous concerns about pedophilia and homosexuality. Gay bashing is always on their minds, like Mongolia. Others can be discussing economics when Grisham butts in with an elbow, "Let me tell you about why I hate Mongolia."

Russell killed five with a stolen M-16

In Baghdad, Army Sergeant John Russell was unstable. The commander took his bolt. Three days later Russell stole an M-16, and opened fire on troops, killing five at the stress clinic.

US Army Major and Psychiatrist Nidal Hasan murdered 13 Soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas.

Hasan wanted to kill as many random American troops as possible. He was on jihad and admits it, though our monkeys in charge tell a bold lie that it was workplace violence. He was in direct contact with al Qaeda.

Hasan continues to draw his government pay, about $300,000 since the murders, though he freely admits to committing the murders. We literally are paying an al Qaeda sympathizer if not operative. Justice has been twisted into something unrecognizable. Our “leadership” creates distress among the people by openly lying that this is workplace violence.

Some people believe that the Obama administration calls this “workplace violence” so that it can maintain that no major acts of terrorism have taken place inside the USA during his Presidency. It clearly was terrorism. Nothing can spackle over that.

Robert Bales

Staff Sergeant Robert Bales walked off his base in Afghanistan and committed mass murder. He killed sixteen people, including unarmed women and children. Was this also workplace violence?

All five Soldiers—Hasan, Manning, Russell, Grisham, and Bales—seem to share common traits: all were frustrated and enraged by what they felt was injustice. All sought vengeance. All radiated mental issues in advance that others noticed. As for Grisham, his habit of videotaping and publishing his escapades should be enough alert his command that something is off.

Result so far: 34 dead, dozens wounded, national security compromised, prestige of the Army severely damaged. Five bad apples pulled this off. This is the tip of the iceberg for the Army. The actual list is huge. The death toll is unknown.

One soldier is running free looking for gay zombies at Starbucks, in between his alleged Boy Scout activities. His commanders do nothing. Move along.

Key question: why is the US Army disproportionately represented in these cases? All other service branches combined do not bring this level lunacy to the table.

Is it combat? Hasan had no combat deployments. Manning had no combat experience.

Hasan was an Army psychiatrist with no tough deployments behind him. His job was in part to spot people like Manning, Bales, Russell, and gay-zombie hunters, and yet he was one.

Hasan was in no position to alert on monkey business while he was swinging from branches himself. That people above Hasan did not remove him before the mass murder is stark evidence of yet a larger troop of monkeys higher in the tree.

The Army leadership system is broken. For every Hasan who breaches the CNN threshold there are trees full of quiet monkeys swinging high in the branches, who fiddle around causing problems through mischief or incompetence. They do not win wars. They are toxic. They cause battles within the ranks. Too often these are real battles with hot bullets.

The Marines and other outfits, such as British combat units, and many of our Coalition partners, have seen tremendous amounts of combat with repeated deployments, yet the only place we see the zombie hunting and mass murder theme is with the US Army. Abu Ghraib was an “Army thing,” a horrible setback to the war, which cost uncountable American lives.

We do not see this with the Air Force, Marines, Navy, or Coast Guard. Surely they have events but their events are not a constant backdrop about who will be next to do something spectacularly insane or criminal, or give massively damaging secrets to Julian Assange at WikiLeaks.

Canadians, Aussies, Danish, Dutch, Poles, French, Italians, Spanish, Germans, and others saw significant combat in recent years—and took many KIA—yet their veterans are not committing wholesale slaughters or crushing their own national security.

The British saw great combat over the last decade. Do you recall a single mass murder by a British Soldier, who then latches onto PTSD as an excuse? The answer is no, because it has not happened.

I can personally vouch that British troops saw plenty of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were in the thick of battle and doing multiple tours that, in laymen’s terms, sucked.

British food was worse, their living conditions typically were far worse and more animalistic than Americans’, they got far more indirect fire, their gear was not as good, and they took heavy casualties, kept fighting, and did not commit mass murders in theatre or back home. Nor did the Aussies, nor did our US Marines, nor did anyone else. Only the US Army has this cultural tic.

Colonel David Williams, Canadian Air Force.

It is not as if foreign militaries or other branches are completely sparkling. Canadian base commander Colonel David Williams turned out to be a torturing serial murderer. He liked to photograph himself in underwear he stole from women. Colonial Williams made video while committing torture, rape and murder, and even adjusted the lights to help with taping. Colonel Williams is serving life in prison.

Colonel Williams had an average career, spent a little cush time overseas, and saw no combat. Multiple tours are not the genesis of the largest problems. With few exceptions like Williams, the greatest commonality between military zombies, the ones who truly go berserk and cause massive damage, is the US Army.

Amid all this pearl-clutching about troops’ mental health—and our reflexive nature to blame a sneeze on PTSD—is that many or most of the perpetrators never deployed, and most who did never saw combat, while many US Marines, British, and others saw significant combat over multiple tours yet are not “going postal” on a regular basis.

A simpler reality is that we stuffed too much sausage into Army uniforms and called the result “Soldiers.” We too often allow monkey business to pass as professionalism, but when monkeys are the graders, all grades pass.

Everyone gets a medal. Last year, Army Brigadier General Roger B. Duff was booted out for wearing a chest full of medals and awards he never earned. Imagine that. Stolen valor by an Army general. When is enough, enough? The Army effectively covered up the trial but some details leaked.

If a soldier cannot be trusted with the bolt to his weapon, a blank CD, a thumb drive, or keys to the kayaks, he should not be trusted with a Top Secret Clearance and computer terminal, and never with an automatic weapon. When a senior soldier, a gay-zombie hunter, takes young boys out onto a dark lake at night with no lights, using Army property, questions should be asked of the boys, their parents, and the Army.

Yet the Army turns its head, time and again. Taking bolts from Soldiers and then returning them to duty is common. Of course they are not sent on combat missions with disabled weapons, but some troops on bases in the wars carried disabled weapons, which was senseless given that the bases in war zones are awash with unimaginable killing tools.

The last tent in which I lived in Afghanistan sometimes contained enough plastic explosives to knock down a small dam. Grenades were everywhere. My tent-mates kept rifles and machine guns under their cots. There was more ammo than several men could carry. Taking a Soldier’s bolt in those circumstances is irrelevant. An unstable trooper should not be in those tents or on that base.

Not only should he not be on that base; any Soldier who cannot be trusted with his bolt or keys to the kayaks should not be in the Army, even if it means we have a shortfall in personnel.

Many Soldiers want to see the Army healthy, vibrant, and combat-ready. If not for them, I would not have all this inside scoop. They want positive change. Their heartbeat is strong. They are tired of the kookiness in their midst. They are tired of weak and morally repugnant leaders.

Big Monkey: What was I thinking?

High-ranking officers are being fired for demonstrable cause at a rate that is difficult to track.

Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair will soon face trial for rape, among other crimes. Details of his trial are practically X-rated. While Sinclair should have been focused on winning the Afghanistan war, he was undermining it. As for subordinates: Monkey see monkey do.

Many other high-ranking officers have been fired for misusing government property and various crimes. Much of it comes down to simple idiocy, like Brigadier General Roger Duff wearing his chest full of fraudulent awards. Only a true idiot would do that. Duff had been a Division Commander, implying that his entire Division would be suspect of monkey business.

Or Sinclair, and his obviously deranged captain-lover who had threatened suicide during their affair; they left a massive text-trail.

On a fine day in Afghanistan, this particular subordinate and lover was reading Sinclair’s emails (OPSEC…). She found emails to his wife and to other Army lovers. She went berserk and sent a poison email to another lover. All this while real Soldiers were in firefights down the road.

On the night of 19 March 2012, the captain lover stormed into the Kandahar office of Sinclair’s commander, Major General James Huggins. With tears streaming down her crazy cheeks, she put it on the table. She called an airstrike on Sinclair’s career, and on her own.

While the monkeys were having sex fights in Kandahar, 39 Coalition troops died that month, 40 the next, and 45 the next month, for a total of 402 in 2012.

Did these officers not have bigger things to consider? Sinclair was booted back to the United States to face trial.

The general has dug in like a tick and is fighting hard. Too bad he did not fight as hard in Afghanistan. Sinclair’s wife is sticking with him, possibly because if he gets busted to the slammer, his pension is gone. These cases often wreck families.

Four Generals have been selected for Sinclair’s jury. Their decision in Sinclair’s trial can affect their own careers. This is twisted like a tornado, especially since President Obama exercised unlawful command influence to sway the outcomes of military sex trials.

Ironically, Obama’s unlawful interference is making it easier to get away with military sex crimes. The judge in Sinclair’s case already has ruled that Obama’s statements, that military sex offenders should be, “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged,” has tainted the cases. Judges in dozens of other cases have taken similar positions.

This high school drama unfolded in Kandahar while we were being shot at nearby. Soldiers are sick of the Sinclair and Duff-monkeys in the tree. The good Generals should declare war on monkey business. The Taliban is not a threat to US national security. Bad generals and soldiers are.

Last week, I asked the excellent and renowned author of The Generals, Thomas Ricks, about another 3-star general officer currently being investigated. Tom replied with the following:

“My biggest concern with this is the lack of transparency. Why are generals given special treatment when it comes to offenses? Arguably, because they are more senior, they should be held to a much higher standard, not a lower one.

“The real problem, I fear, is that generals are acting more like members of a union or guild protecting each other, rather than as stewards of their profession, enforcing standards for their subordinates and for each other.”

This is about a broken Army. If the Army is not yet broken, it needs to be broken and remade. It cannot fix itself.

or post as a guest

Grisham is a disgrace to both the Boy Scouts & The U.S. Army. * smh * Where are the good & stable and tactically sound soldiers & leaders we need for the U.S. Army. If I was not Deaf and use American Sign Language everyday. Would I enlist in the U.S. Army under these clown class acts ? Hell No !!! The U.S. Army needs formidable & strong men able to wage war against a very deadly serious enemy. Arabic government troops & Arabic Terrorists. I will be very happy the day the U.S. Army kicks out these clown class acts and hires deadly serious fighting American Soldiers & Leaders and Generals. 8)

The army is doing what the army always does. Chews them up, leaves them a mental wreck, and kicks them out. I've given the army 19 years with 5 deployments. My body is completely broken and they want to seperate me for being over weight even though I can no longer do pt. The only option I had was a med board because AR 600-9 does not allow exceptions for wounds or brokenness caused by the army. The generals don't care about joe until joe does something wrong to make general and his unit look bad.

The U.S. Army is throwing away extremely experienced people that should be staying in the service. There has to be some way an Army man can transition to civilian employee within the DoD family. The U.S. Army's obsession with fresh bodies pressed into service is completely understandable but the Army needs to look at the quality of people that they can keep and transition to civilian employee within the five or six branches of the DoD family.

Every soldier mentioned in this dispatch, and others like them, detract from those who serve/served honorably. Many of my family members have served in the Army , going back to WWII. They do not deserve to have their services demeaned because of these pogs. Thank you MY for standing up for them.

Grisham's actions violate quite a few Scout Safety requirements. This is troubling. Scouting establishes a lot of safety standards for a reason. Scouting provides a lot of outdoors activities many of which are classified as High Adventure activities. Failure to comply with the safety guidelines puts the scouts and adult leaders at risk. I would think the scout chartering organization would chime in here.

It legitimately must be asked what it will take for Grisham's chain of command to finally discharge him dishonorably and revoke his security clearance.

For a jackass like Grisham to hold a Top Secret clearance makes a mockery of Army standards. When you look at the other examples cited in this article, you realize that the Army is asleep at the switch.

Hold someone responsible for once and fire the clueless Sergeant Major of the Army, a damned fool who hid out at the academy for most of the last ten years. Fire the Army Chief of Staff, a weak Armor commander with no combat experience.

Are there no better leaders to shepherd the Army? Take any Regimental Sergeant Major if the Ranger Regiment and put him in charge.

MICHAEL,Re the moniker for C Jones, though we do, indeed, have free speech as our right, I think you will understand how offensive this is. I'm not speaking of his comment, just his moniker. He thinks it's clever, of course. What it is is hatred in print. Would you allow F..k Jones? How about P.ss Jones? HIV Jones? Of course you wouldn't allow such references as those. This moniker is disgusting and should be called out!

Not Grisham AGAIN!The local Boy Scout organization ought to be SACKED for associating with this maniac! They are so paranoid about gays - this idiot is a clear and present danger to EVERYONE around him.And yes, Texas lakes are quite dangerous at night - even WITH lights from drunken idiots motoring around at speed.Where were the parents???

The local council performs background checks on all volunteers. IF he's not been convicted of anything, nothing will show up. SO- the troop leaders have to perform their own due diligence. The Scoutmaster, Committee Chair, or Charter Rep can bounce any adult out of the troop. Been there, done that. And I'm pretty sure the Charter Rep can bounce the SM or Committee Chair. The chartering organization has to bounce the charter rep.

Bouncing an adult volunteer out is not a pleasant experience. And if the troop he is associated with has other military members in Scouting leadership positions who might be junior to Grisham in military terms- um- they might hesitate. Don't know the situation there, and don't know if anyone reading this would know.

"A simpler reality is that we stuffed too much sausage into Army uniforms and called the result “Soldiers.” We too often allow monkey business to pass as professionalism, but when monkeys are the graders, all grades pass."

Exactly. Standards were lowered to deal with the large scope of work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Standards for previous crimes, ASVAB testing, etc. And this is what you get, that addresses PART of the problem.

Why it's so hard for them to get rid of people that show obvious signs of trouble, is beyond me. I've seen it in every aspect of the Army, starting in boot camp. I'll never understand this mentality. We needed a fit, physically and mentally healthy fighting force. It was so far from that. I can't wrap my mind around it.

The higher ranking officers have always covered for one another, I've seen it first hand, it's like some unwritten code and they call it "discretion."

Very true statements, it starts at the top. What the Air Force just went through, the black eye they received from losing commanders over the boot camp sexual assaults, the Army needs to be next. Thank you for bringing attention to this, it's been an ongoing issue since I joined (2002) and I'm sure way before then.

They continue to do it because they can get away with it. And they know that. And our taxes will still pay for them to retire. That's crap.

Why are people still surprised when POGs are weak, stupid, and sham out of hard work? Every Infantryman knows you can't count on POGs to get anything done in the Army. Whether it's admin, out-processing, supply or medical.

Easy killer, I'm a "POG" An intel weenie at that, but have never been accused of being "stupid, weak or afraid of hard work." Quite the opposite actually. Don't group all of us in one category. It would be like me saying all 11Bs are dumb, that's just simply not true.

Pogue is pejorative military slang for non-combat, staff, and other rear-echelon or support units.[1] "Pogue" frequently includes those who don't have to undergo the stresses that the infantry does.

This term is thematically similar to the newer word Fobbit which refers to non-combat arms soldiers who never leave their Forward Operating Base. Fobbit is a combination of the acronym FOB and term Hobbit from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series. Hobbits never leave the Shire, while Fobbits never leave the FOB. However, the terms are not synonymous because a functionary at the Pentagon might be termed a pogue or REMF (Rear Echelon Mother-Fucker) but could never be termed a Fobbit.

SoOoOoO.....in this grand scheme of un-official designations, where would you put the airman who makes sure that the aircraft that are capable of dropping ordnance on top of bad guys are able to drop the ordnance on top of the bad guys when they are shooting at the grunts? How about the "REMFS" who make it possible for the Airman to do his job on those aircraft? What about the Artillery and supply folks? I can't say I'm criticizing the grunts but their lives would be a whole lot worse if it were not for a lot of these folks derogatorily referred to as "REMFS", "POGS" and etcetera - we do it for you.

Although I can't think of specifics, this whole account reminds me of the US Army of the 70s, post-Vietnam, as it transitioned to a hand-to-mouth existence and the volunteer only force. I wonder if -- when all these major deployments end -- if there will be another Peers type commission to do a top to bottom review of Army leadership. From my viewpoint, it seemed that the Army really started to cook chicken in the 1980s as pride in the profession of arms seemed to be reinvigorated and our mission focus was well defined: Fight outnumbered and WIN!

The article raises many valid issues, but the emphasis on shootings as an index of bad leadership makes it appear that the Army is alone in this problem. In the Navy bad leadership has been manifested in the rise of the number of ship collisions and groundings in recent years, plus the firing of the captain of the Enterprise for show lewd videos of himself to the crew. The Air Force has had problems with the accountability of nuclear weapons and with aircraft sabotage (the majority of which is done by airmen trying to look good by finding the damaged part). The Marines are not immune either - recall the rapes overseas - but their smaller number of incidents does seem to demonstrate that their discipline model does work.

This NCO is continually showing poor judgement, as a Non-comm, and as a soldier in general. Seems Grisham cannot be trusted to make sound decisions as simple as ensuring the safety of Boy Scout under his care, thus he has no business with a security clearance. The AR-15 incident should have been a clear indication. Prior to that, the picture he posted of himself with the pistol with the bayonet on it speaks volumes as to his lack of judgement and mental instability. His chain of command needs to revoke all clearances he has and out-process him for patterns of misconduct. (dishonorably)

I agree with your assessment of Bradley Manning's situation. Unfortunately the press more or less rubber stamped the government's PR, not a lot of critical thinking in the press core these days. In most cases because chasing after WikiLeaks made a more gripping (and simpler) story than faulting the Army, among other reasons.

Michael, the truth oftens hits hard. There is a systemic issue. It does begin at the top. Much further up the chain of command than just theatre level Brigadier and Major Generals. I wonder if there is a direct correlation between the number of Army Generals that have been promoted into their positions under the current administrations one and a half terms as opposed to the other branches? I'm not trying to make excuses. After retiring with 28 years of service (active and reserve), it pains me greatly to see my beloved branch of service drug through the mud. I agree that there are definitely negative command climate influences and prejudices for these cases before they get to trial. I think your dispatch nailed it head on. After numerous generations of my family members serving in the Army, this is embarrassing. These events cause me to choke at the Army Values we hold all our Soldiers to observe (LDRSHIP) knowing certain classes of "leaders" demean them all. What we have is a moral crisis that is causing a morale crisis.

When an organization's "leader" is a grinning arrogant liar (Obama), the organization has no incentive to weed out the misfits. The organization (and the entire country) rots. You get what you vote for.

WHY don't you expose the drugging of troops with Percocet while in the field, making them addicts and lessening their battle readiness in order to discredit their testimony and classify them as domestic threats as an excuse to take away their civil rights?

Mike, you've done it. You're the only one with an audience who's been calling out the Army for its "shenanigans" and "antics." Thank you for being a voice for those who actually believe in and practice the Army values.

If my memory serves me correctly, didn't you, Mike, have a run-in with this oxygen thief while you were on the rockpile? I seem to remember one of your posts that showed his photo and details. My brothers in the Crotch call this guy, one of the 10%.

This article is overly pessimistic Michael. US forces have plenty of capable leaders and decent people, they are certainly not all like Manning or Grisham. In fact by concentrating on these two you do a disservice to the many who have given their best during recent deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. (English reader)

Barry I disagree. There are many capable leaders and decent people in the Army, but many are leaving in droves because of this decay in leadership. Many have been political casualties. At some point only those like MY mentioned in this dispatch are left. Not bringing this to light disrespects all those who have served honorably and upheld Army values.

Barry and LSw You two probably agree on more than you realize. My take on the exodus of good leaders is that the cream of the junior officer corps is leaving as soon as they fulfill their commitment. I've seen too many of these young people look at what is going on with the general officers and what is trickling down behavior wise to field grade officers and they say 'I would rather enter the civilian job market.' The consensus seems to be that those capable of succeeding in the private sector leave.

The enlisted personnel I have met seem to act the same way. Those that feel they can make it in the civilian world are leaving. Most of the competent ones staying are those close to vesting their retirement.

Thanks, Michael for encapsulating a scumbag's gallery of worthless MFers who sully the name of Soldier. I guess you ran out of space and couldn't mention the stealth-jihadi murderer who rolled a grenade into the 101st's TOC right before OIF (1 KIA, 13 WIA), and right at the very top of the monkey house, Gen Casey "And as horrific as this tragedy was (Ft Hood TERROR attack), if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said. WHAT!!!????Please, Mike, and all of us who love this "last, best hope of earth",...call Hal Moore, Pace, Blaber, McKnight and Luttrell, invoke the Spirit of Hack, eject the Perfumed Princes, the ticket-punchers, the feather-merchants, the pogues, and put the shooters and scooters, the snake-eaters, the "rough men", the "sheepdogs" in charge, restore the standards and fix our broken army.

The manner in which the Military Leadership is not addressing these individuals is reminiscent of the Catholic Church shuffling around their Peodophiles. No one is left who can stand up and make a sound moral decision.

Has Grisham ever been chastised? Has he ever been punished? Has he ever been so much as formally counseled?

Where are his commanders?

Surely they know that he is engaged in questionable 2d Amendment activism?

Soldiers do not surrender their rights when they swear an oath, but it should not be permissible for soldiers to parade around with rifles on their back while they go about their daily business in town.

I understand that this is not technically illegal. I am not suggesting that it should be.

I do think that it is rude, very inconsiderate, very insensitive, to rub the collective faces of civilians into the mud of his public displays.

Grisham is making soldiers look like idiots. Grisham is making 2d Amendment advocates look stupid--much like that moron Adam Kokesh.

Where are Grisham's commanders?

Do we have to wait until this damaged soldier snaps and commits horrific crimes of violence before he is reined in?

Grisham is a wack job and it is really beneath you Michael to continue on fighting with him. You are so above him in intelligence and common sense I don't get this never ending fight. Please let him go by the wayside and disappear, don't give him the attention that he is seeking so desperately. He has every right to carry the gun you see him with, but just because he is trying to make a point, IN OF ALL PLACES TEXAS, where the gun laws are pro gun, is asinine and immature shows that, you Michael, have the upper hand in intelligence and this isn't worthy of your time.

Grisham was just one of many in the article. I know about him so when I write about the broken Army, naturally he is going to be featured. Information about Grisham falls into my lap with little effort. He is surrounded by people who dime him out regularly.

The same happened with Brigadier General Daniel Menard. Many people thought I spent too much time on Menard, when in reality I was being fed information like Niagara Falls. I was focused on other things but people were flooding me with verifiable information that I was not asking for. And that is Grisham's problem. So many people hate the guy that he cannot sneeze without someone telling me. I publish a small fraction. The allegation that he endangered the lives of Boy Scouts needs to be investigated by the Army and the Boy Scouts, if not law enforcement. I went live with that one due to the seriousness of the allegations including Boy Scouts.

Due to Grisham being surrounded by people who report his every move, I know more about his life than I care to. The information flows whether or not I ask.

Erm, somehow this does not make me feel safer now knowing that for the US Army the lunatics are running the asylum. (And I am not at all sure about the Air Force, either. Now, Marines I trust. Those I've met are worth knowing. High ranking AF officers - well, some have set off my "watch out for him" radar. Army almost always sets off the potential abuser warning bells. Navy of most any rank seems to be OK if remarkably often wasted efforts (i.e. I found out they're gay when it looked like dating them might be fun,) (Of course, the married fellows are not wastes in any sense. Seems they all had the good sense to let it be known they were married up front.)

Isn't the bigger question WHO manufactured the chemical (nerve gas?) weapons fiasco in Syria??? How about why flag-level officers were relieved by OBLAMO immediately after rescue calls were initiated by the Consulate (i.e.,the CIA head shed) staff???

This nation (including our command structure in DoD) is run by idiots.

When you put ridiculous recruitment quotas out on recruiters, you are going to be recruiting whackos. Recruiters should get bonuses for getting non-whack-job recruits and stringent mental health testing should be done as part of the recruitment process.

Reader support is crucial to this mission. Weekly or monthly recurring ‘subscription’ based support is the best, though all are greatly appreciated. Recurring and one-time gifts are available through PayPal or Authorize.net.

To support using Venmo, send to:@Yon-Michael

My BitCoin QR Code

Use the QR code for BitCoin apps:

Or click the link below to help support the next dispatch with bitcoins: